2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Kantankrus_Mare

After tidying the rhubarb up at the allotment a few weeks ago......it has had another spurt of growth so picked some yesterday and made some rhubarb crumble muffins. Lovely. 
Oh and also ate homegrown new potatoes and bits of homegrown salad for our chicken dinner. 

Pixiehouse55

Hi everyone. I've just looked back, didn't realise its been so ,one since I was last on here!!. Well we had the skip for 2 weeks and got rid of loads of rubbish. Sold a lot on Facebook and made £200. Shed is now emptied ready to sale, then more garden for veg, fruit and some flowers. Very happy with that. Paid normal £400 off of CC plus another £1000. My hands were shaking making that overpayment,  panicking the what if there is an emergency and I've not got the money...... its done now. Happy bunny. £2866 ish left to pay.  We've got baby courgettes and tomatoes and cucumber plants are looking good. 

Tanya12345

Morning Fruggies, sitting here in the wee small hours making plans !! Garden is all full speed so harvesting and preserving like a maniac. Lovely position to be in ! Trying to sneak in a second crop in beds that have been cleared. Note taking has somewhat fallen to one side so will try and resurrect that as it all gets to be a blur by sept/October and I won't be able to remember what worked ( or not!!). Frugalling not going very well ! Been forgetting to write spending down so 2 weeks in to new regime I'm adrift, that's tomorrow's job,,,,,,,, ah make that today !! Really enjoying the beautiful sunshiney weather at the mo ! Have a great day everyone xx

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone
I've been really down in the dumps these past few days, no idea why at all but I just cannot get going and feel so down. We have rubbish weather, my car is still poorly so we can't go anywhere that isn't accessible on foot and our drains are playing up again. It all could be so much worse and I keep giving me my head a shake!

Onto all matters frugal, I have been really good and the only money leaving my account is towards the credits card, which is now just under £900! The app for the CC is rubbish at updating (another reason I can't wait for it to go), so I'll know the correct figure tomorrow. I have done an online shop for delivery tomorrow - the delivery was £1 😊😊 and I stuck to budget (£50 this week so slightly higher than the past two weeks but I needed dog food, meat and laundry bits. Oh and beer 🍻😍).

I just feel so so much better than I'm actually taking control of my spending. I am still waiting on two refunds from M&S - they're so quick to take your money these big companies aren't they, but very slow to give it back when you return something. Once that comes back (about £50) that will also go off the CC.

Take care all xx

MazzieD

It's interesting reading your post Deleted_User.  I'm sure a lot of this is down to the fact that we are experiencing a lot of uncertainty with Covid and life is nowhere near back to what most of us would consider 'normal'.  With no end in sight, it is also easy to forget that Brexit is still bubbling away in the background.  One or the other would be enough to cope with but potentially they could both overlap.  Think this could be the most turbulent year any of us have experienced whatever our circumstances are.  It is something that we are all going through together which is unusual and it will affect us all in different ways.  

I'm trying to find joy where I can.   Sunday was a truly magical day for me, after all the excitement of seeing the hedgehog and stag beetle, I rescued a bumble bee which had somehow trapped it's leg in my front porch door, it flew off a bit dazed but seemed ok.  

As if that wasn't enough wildlife for one day, I was downstairs and heard a loud chirping, so crept upstairs and found a young sparrow fledgling in my bathroom.  It must have got in though the bedroom window which was open.  It wasn't frightened and flew onto my hand so I let it out.  Thank goodness my cat was asleep downstairs.  Who needs television when you have all that free entertainment?.

sashacat

Good evening frugalliers.
Busy day today with baking and grocery shopping. I think I won’t have to go near a shop now until November. 
A friend gave me a dozen eggs and some honey....well we swopped....I have her a box full of nice, clean jars that she wanted.
a friend came to stay. I cooked dinner from veg in the garden and fish from the freezer and he is going to cut up a lot of wood for me in the morning....he just happens to have his chain saw in his car. yay. 

nananibbles

Good Morning All,
A good start to my day as I received notification from my solicitor that the courts have now accepted my Consent Order which means I don't have to hand over anymore money to my soon to be ex - I can't begin to tell you how relieved I am so now I can start to plan my budget for the last 5 months of the year  (after the solicitor takes her rather large cut).

I popped into @sda the other day with my DGD, mainly to give my DD a break, but also to do some price comparisons in there as I'm trying to set up a price book. I make my own almond milk and almond butter for myself and DD so consume a large amount of almonds and have noticed the price of nuts has gone up. I was pleased to see that they were one of the cheapest I've seen. I picked up some basics for my stock cupboard but ended up buying some bits for DGD as she will soon be moving into the next size in clothing. Up until now she has been using baby clothes given as gifts,  hand me downs from friends and family and charity shop stuff but doesn't have much in the next size (haven't found many charity shops open yet either). I must look on my local Facebook page to see if there are any bundles going in her size. So I spent £22 on 6 pairs of joggers,  a top and a cardigan (which was too cute but I probably shouldn't have bought) and £16 on some food basics for me. Other than fruit and veg I'm not going to need anything else for me till the beginning of next month, I do need to do a shop for DS today but at least DD and family are away with Parents in law for a week so no food needed there.

I made some energy balls with the left over almond pulp from my almond milk the day before yesterday adding dates, nuts, seeds, some peanut butter dark chocolate and lime juice. All the other ingredients were in the house I'm currently sitting (and have been told I can use) so no additional cost to me. Nom Nom they were rather delicious . Yesterday I roasted the seeds from a butternut squash in a little hoisin sauce - delish, ate up some more home grown runner beans and lettuce. I also got a left over dish of vegetable biryani from the chef who's working here. He left it in the oven for too long so wasn't happy with the texture (tastes good to me). Unfortunately I was out when he did this and was mortified to discover he'd thrown most of it in the bin - it would have done me for a good four or five meals.
Have a good day. 
NN

Frugaldom

Good morning frugalers
I hope everyone is doing ok and that those who have been feeling down are managing to get back to a semblance of normality. Get well soon to those not well. 
I'm still chasing my tail for time so don't always get around to reading everything, far less updating in all the places I really shuld so apologies if I have missed anything. 
Weather here has been horrible, torrential rain for the past couple of days so not very nice for working outdoors for hours on end. By the time I get back in and dried, I can't be bothered doing anything else (like cooking) so meals have been a mish mash of whatever is quickest and easiest to make, even if it's just something on toast for dinner. 
Peas still doing well here and I'm sick of lettuce - planted enough for a help-yourself garden then  lockdown meant nobody came to help themselves. 

StrawberrySuze

Dizzy_Imp said:

Evening!  Had a busy day, which is usual for me, but did manage to make some hazelnut yogurt (to the delight of DH , as it's his fave) and collect a second-hand chest freezer to use for bulk deliveries of my raw dog food.  I usually make a weekly trip to the supplier, but he has offered to deliver every three weeks to me for a small charge, which I'm glad to take him up on.  Petrol and time saved by me, even with his delivery charge.

I also made some carrot and coriander soup with some old bendy carrots, and portioned that into three lots for the freezer, which will give me quick lunches when needed.  Sold five of our pure breed chickens today which was a nice little earner.  Hubby is out in the caravan mucking about with the old incubator to see if he can get it to run steady enough to use for hatching.  The turning arm on it breaks regularly, so it's no good for general incubating duties, but for the last three days before hatching, the eggs don't need to be turned, just kept at the right temperature and humidity, so it might come in handy for that.  Our chicken empire is growing steadily...

Hi Dizzy Imp, popping out of lurkdom for a moment! 
Interested in your raw dog food comment as am planning on changing my dogs onto it, have started with chicken wings as am doing it gradually. One of my dogs gets colitis every few weeks and I think she will do better on it though she did turn her nose up at a tiny piece of raw steak the other day, she ate a chicken wing happily enough after burying, guarding and digging it up three times!
How does your dog/dogs get on with it? Do they seem to enjoy and thrive on it and have you found any issues?
I used to look after dogs that were changed onto it and they were much healthier and really enjoyed it.
Thanks,
Suze

mumof3.12kindebt

Hello frugal friends ... Well once again I fell off the wagon .. so much so I would of face planted the floor if it physically happened... 

Anyway I'm doing a no spend for the next 12 months as our lease finishes next August ... I really want to buy a car cash. A decent car that we can keep until it's no longer worth keeping on the road... I'll save £270 a month compared to paying my lease now .. that's over £3000 a year. !  I'll set up a savings account once the car is brought and put a set amount in each month to cover all repairs , running costs (excluding fuel) and to eventually cover the cost of replacing the vehicle when the time comes ... 

I still plan to pay our mortgage off by the time we are 40 ! 12 years to go !!  

So it's time to become properly focused on our goals .. 

We did it before to pay off debt and become Homeowners so I know we can do it again ..  thankyou to everyone who posts on this thread giving inspiration , support and a place to feel like others are on the same journey. 

Love hugs and positivity to you all have a great day ♥️